'Tis the season to be jolly well sad

SEASONAL stress and the global economic gloom are making Christmas less than merry for thousands of workers.

People are overloaded, dissatisfied and increasingly anxious, figures from Australia's largest provider of workplace counselling services show.

The chief executive of Davidson Trahaire Corpsych, Michele Grow, said Christmas was a time when workers increasingly felt family and financial pressures, which were now combining with pressure from workplaces under economic strain.

An increase in the number of companies making staff redundant around the middle of the year was beginning to take its toll, she said.

''Of course, redundancy impacts the people who go, but there is generally a much bigger impact on the people who stay,'' she said.

''When an organisation downsizes, it is very rare the work has gone away.''

In the approach to Christmas this year, the company has recorded an 87 per cent increase in calls related to workload issues and a 73 per cent increase in workplace satisfaction issues compared with the same period last year.

Calls about work/life balance, issues with superiors, personal stress and financial issues have also increased.

Davidson Trahaire Corpsych receives more than 200,000 calls each year, and Ms Grow said the nature of the calls tended to change during the festive season.

''Particularly in December, we see an increase in perceived harassment behaviour from end-of-year events,'' she said.

And the hangover continues until January, when calls about family, relationship and financial problems pick up.

The chief executive of beyondblue, Kate Carnell, said while the national depression initiative did not receive more calls around Christmas, the nature of calls changed.

''We certainly get an increase in the number of people who are doing it tough, particularly with family issues … people who are divorced and aren't with their kids or people who have lost someone in the past 12 months,'' she said.

''People are all under increased stress, and stress is a major precursor to depression and anxiety.''